The color of the law : race, violence, and justice in the post-World War II South, Gail Williams O'Brien

The Resource The color of the law : race, violence, and justice in the post-World War II South, Gail Williams O'Brien

The color of the law : race, violence, and justice in the post-World War II South, Gail Williams O'Brien

Resource Information

The item The color of the law : race, violence, and justice in the post-World War II South, Gail Williams O'Brien represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.

"On February 25, 1946, African Americans in Columbia, Tennessee, averted the lynching of James Stephenson, a nineteen-year-old, black Navy veteran who had fought with a white Army veteran and radio repairman at a local department store. That night, after Stephenson was safely out of town, four of Columbia's police officers were shot and wounded when they tried to enter the town's black business district. The next morning, the Tennessee Highway Patrol invaded the district, wrecking establishments and beating men as they arrested them." "Drawing on extensive oral history interviews and a rich array of written records - including federal grand jury records acquired through a court order, a trial transcript thought not to exist, and a transcript of the interrogation of two black suspects just before they were killed in jail - Gail Williams O'Brien tells the dramatic story of the Columbia "race riot" and the events that followed." "O'Brien sees the Columbia events as emblematic of the shift in emphasis during the 1940s from racially motivated mob violence, prevalent for decades in the American South, to increased confrontations between African Americans and the criminal justice system, a nationwide phenomenon."--Jacket

"On February 25, 1946, African Americans in Columbia, Tennessee, averted the lynching of James Stephenson, a nineteen-year-old, black Navy veteran who had fought with a white Army veteran and radio repairman at a local department store. That night, after Stephenson was safely out of town, four of Columbia's police officers were shot and wounded when they tried to enter the town's black business district. The next morning, the Tennessee Highway Patrol invaded the district, wrecking establishments and beating men as they arrested them." "Drawing on extensive oral history interviews and a rich array of written records - including federal grand jury records acquired through a court order, a trial transcript thought not to exist, and a transcript of the interrogation of two black suspects just before they were killed in jail - Gail Williams O'Brien tells the dramatic story of the Columbia "race riot" and the events that followed." "O'Brien sees the Columbia events as emblematic of the shift in emphasis during the 1940s from racially motivated mob violence, prevalent for decades in the American South, to increased confrontations between African Americans and the criminal justice system, a nationwide phenomenon."--Jacket

The Columbia story -- The bottom and its brokers -- War, esteem, efficacy, and entitlement -- The making and unmaking of mobocracy -- The politics of policing -- Grand (jury) maneuvers and the politics of exclusion -- Outsiders and the politics of justice

Dimensions

25 cm.

Extent

xiii, 334 pages

Isbn

9780807848029

Lccn

98030827

Media category

unmediated

Media MARC source

rdamedia

Media type code

n

Other physical details

illustrations

System control number

ocm39695512

(OCoLC)39695512

Label

The color of the law : race, violence, and justice in the post-World War II South, Gail Williams O'Brien

The Columbia story -- The bottom and its brokers -- War, esteem, efficacy, and entitlement -- The making and unmaking of mobocracy -- The politics of policing -- Grand (jury) maneuvers and the politics of exclusion -- Outsiders and the politics of justice